FEMA allocates $52 million to repair New Orleans streets and sidewalks damaged by Hurricane Katrina

An ongoing reassessment of damage done to streets and sidewalks by Hurricane Katrina's floodwaters has yielded $52 million in new FEMA financing for repairs in several New Orleans neighborhoods, Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced Thursday.

View full sizeTimes-Picayune archiveAll told, FEMA has obligated more than $128 million for repairs to roads and sidewalks damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The latest allocation comes after a $45 million FEMA award in August to fix flood-damaged streets in the Lower 9th Ward.

The new round of money will be distributed this way: the St. Claude corridor, $21.8 million; Lakeview, $16.7 million; Lakeshore and Lake Vista, $7.5 million; Broadmoor, $4.8 million; and Milneburg, $1.3 million.

To date, the Landrieu administration and FEMA have completed road and sidewalk reassessments for 45 of the city's 73 neighborhoods. The reviews, which began last fall, are continuing, and city officials are optimistic that the process will result in tens of millions in additional appropriations.

All told, FEMA has obligated more than $128 million for repairs to roads and sidewalks damaged by the 2005 hurricane.

Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant said the street-by-street reassessments, brokered during Mayor Ray Nagin's administration by then-Public Works Director Robert Mendoza, are designed to ensure that all eligible storm-related damages are identified.

After Katrina, roadways across New Orleans were inundated, resulting in widespread damage. Excessive weight from emergency vehicles and construction trucks on the already weakened streets caused further damage.

Early on, much of the money released by FEMA was used to fix major arteries and to perform patch work. Later examinations revealed additional damage, particularly on smaller side streets.

"We know that much of the problem was the pressure placed both on the street surface and the subsurface water lines and utilities by sitting water during Hurricane Katrina," Landrieu said in a statement.

"This new funding will not solve all of our street and water problems, but it will go a long way helping resurface streets in some of our most impacted neighborhoods."

After he took office in May 2010, Landrieu established a task force made up of officials from the city, the Sewerage & Water Board, FEMA and the Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.

During the past year, representatives of the agencies have had about 275 meetings and site visits.

City Councilwoman Susan Guidry, who represents the Lakeview and Lakeshore neighborhoods, hailed the new money, noting that post-Katrina street repairs have not kept pace with neighborhood rebuilding and personal investment by residents.

"These funds are the tangible result of the second review, hard work, and increased collaboration with our federal partners," Guidry said.